Jazz apprenticeships

“Why are jazz apprenticeships so vital in the first place? For one thing the music essentially models a community, with every ensemble thriving on communication, a code of ethics and an implicit grasp of roles. Jazz is also still a young music, with about a century of precedent, imperfectly captured on record and poorly served by written notation. Its lifeblood is the direct transmission of a vast, intangible body of knowledge. Consult an alumnus of Blakey’s ad-hoc academy, and you’ll likely hear descriptions of gruff but avuncular insight: wisdom from the trenches, so to speak.”

Nate Chinen, “Jazz Apprentices Still Find Their Masters”. The New York Times, 20 July 2012.

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